Reach Out and Touch Someone
by spoodle monkey
Summary: Do you know what it's like to care about someone so much and never be able to touch them? To hold them? Even to dance with them? Arthur/Eames Yusuf POV


Disclaimer: Nope, don't own.

A/N- Yay! My first finished Inception fic! Yusuf is awesome. That is all.

* * *

It's a month after the job that they finally manage to meet up again. They've been too busy trying not to be traced, making sure that the inception had taken to actually get any celebrating done.

Yusuf is booked on a plane back to Mombassa in two days so tonight he plans on getting as drunk as he possibly can. The bar they end up in is dimly lit with round tables and booths surrounding a small dance floor. Briefly he wonders if it's a fire hazard to have this many people in one area as he squeezes by a group of college students on his way back to their table.

The music playing makes him grimace and want to cover his ears but he just takes it all in, deciding he won't notice after a few more shots.

"To…a night to remember." He toasts as he sits down. They've already toasted to a job well done, to getting away with it, to the money and to Saito paying for this extended vacation. Yusuf tips the shot back and lets it burn its way down his throat. A couple more and the night will be much more interesting.

Eames wraps his own, long fingers around his shot glass but just takes a small sip, other hand preoccupied with holding his head up as he stares out at the dance floor. He doesn't look like he's celebrating- he looks more like he's at a funeral.

Yusuf tries to resist but he ends up looking. Everything looks fine; Arthur and Ariadne are out on the dance floor, though Arthur appears to be distracted. He can see Ariadne laughing and smiling though and is pleased that at least one of them seems to be having a good time.

Yusuf grabs another shot and knocks it back before turning back to his friend.

"At least someone is having a good time." He tilts his head in the direction of the dance floor.

Eames grimaces and finally downs his shot, immediately reaching for another. He drinks the second one down and then wraps both hands around a half empty bottle of imported beer.

Yusuf isn't nearly drunk enough for whatever shit is going on in the forger's head right now.

"Yusuf," Eames begins with slightly unfocused eyes and perhaps a bit of a slur forming. Of course, this could easily be an act; he's seen Eames drink rich college kids under the table and then walk away right afterwards, perfectly fine. He's not sure this time. "I have a question for you."

He just knows that he isn't going to want to hear this question. Yusuf briefly wishes that he were home, drinking a strong mixture of his own making and his cat keeping him company. He finds himself nodding for the other man to continue anyways.

"Do you know," Eames trails off for a bit, eyes flitting briefly over the dance floor before returning to Yusuf. "What it's like to care too much bout someone?"

Yusuf thinks of Mombassa and sparkling eyes and a musical laugh and of never being noticed.

"Perhaps." He says and reaches for another shot.

"Someone that you're never going to get to touch?" Eames continues, staring down into his drink like it holds the answers he's looking for. "Someone you'll never get to hold or…dance with."

"It looks like someone has already had too much to drink." Arthur slides into the seat next to them at the table and steals Eames' drink, grimacing at the taste.

In the moment that Eames looks up, Yusuf can see the sobriety and knows that Eames has only been acting to get something off of his chest. But the act slips back into place when he turns to face Arthur.

"_Darling_," He says, slurring his words just enough so it's believable. "You looked magnificent out there."

Arthur waves it off as mere teasing but Yusuf can hear the truth behind it.

"You two should go dance." Both Arthur and Eames turn startled looks on him. He ignores them. "Eames is rather light on his feet when he wants to be."

"I think I'm a little smashed for that." Eames narrows his eyes at him in warning. "Besides, I'm sure Arthur would rather dance with Ariadne."

They all turn to watch the young woman dancing in a group, the centre of attention and loving it.

"It's not like you would stand out." Yusuf points out. The floor has a few male couples dancing together and no one is commenting one way or another.

Eames comes up with another excuse just as Arthur says, "Sure."

The two men stare at each other for a moment as they both process what the other said. Arthur starts to open his mouth to ask what a poodle has to do with _anything_ when Eames stands smoothly, chair sliding back noisily and holds his hand out for Arthur.

"Shall we, love?"

Arthur raises an eyebrow, sets Eames' drink back down on the table and accepts the hand, allowing himself to be led out onto the dance floor.

Yusuf watches them idly, for lack of anything better to do. He has essentially been left to guard the table while the rest of their party goes to dance. But he does grin as the song switches to a slower tempo and couples come closer together on the floor. He watches as Eames hesitantly rests his hands on Arthur's hips and sees the pleased look as Arthur pushes closer until they are flush against each other, arms holding one another close.

He can see Eames' lips moving, saying something softly to the other man but Yusuf cannot read his lips from the table. Arthur rests his head against Eames' shoulder, says something back and a small smile spreads across his face.

"They're cute, aren't they?" Ariadne drops into the seat next to him, grinning and flushed.

"I don't think things are _cute._" Yusuf says. Except his cat perhaps.

Ariadne just grins like she knows what is going through his mind.

"Its about time they got their act together." She muses, looking pleased. She grabs the remaining shot off the table and knocks it back before she's rushed back onto the dance floor and the tempo picks up again.

He waits a moment to see if anyone else will be joining him, but Eames and Arthur appear content pressed together on the dance floor in some semblance of a dance so Yusuf slips through the crowd and heads to the bar to get some more drinks.


End file.
